Tag Archives: Marketing

My husband has been a musician for longer than I’ve known him (which is over 35 years now). He has three degrees in some aspect of music education and as such, has been in tons of parades either marching himself or as Band Director for his students’ bands.

The Fiesta Bowl parade however, was my first experience being in a parade. Gotta tell you, it’s a pretty heady experience being cheered at, waved at and applauded for 2 hours:-)

We actually spent more time preparing and waiting however than parading, but in all, it was great fun!

Do you feel like you’re spinning your wheels with your marketing efforts?

Would you like to make more money with less efforts?

People in many businesses get the best results from active, time-dependent marketing strategies such as outreach, networking and referral-building rather than passive, money-dependent strategies such as advertising.

Assess the effectiveness of your current approach and refine it to land new clients in this hands-on, interactive workshop.

Discover . . .
how you can avoid the biggest mistakes professionals make in their marketing find out about the FIVE THINGS you must do to build your business FAST, concentrate on marketing strategies and tactics that will work best for you, and reduce your anxiety about marketing so you quit procrastinating and START MAKING MORE MONEY!!

There are many ways that you can position yourself as an expert. And being an expert is critical because (I’m sure you’re heard), people do business with (and hire) people that they know, like and trust.

If you’re not known, not liked and not trusted, it’s highly unlikely that people will hire you to provide a service for them or to work for them.

Here are some things you can do to heighten your expert status.

If you’re just getting started and aren’t sure what you’re an expert in, take some time to review your career and resume. If you’ve worked at all, there has got to be something you can say you’re an expert at. Don’t be shy or modest. Don’t underestimate your knowledge. Many people discount their expertise thinking that if they know it, everybody does. Or even if everybody doesn’t know what they know, it still must not be that important if they know it. Not true.

Write a book. This will increase your credibility as an expert almost immediately and it’s not as hard to do as you think.

Make a list of topics that you could speak on for 20 minutes and then contact local business networking groups and offer your services as a speaker. You don’t have to be eloquent. Just knowledgeable about something people are interested in and able to communicate in an organized and interesting manner.

Writing and speaking are some of the easiest ways to show off your expertise and build your credibility. The hardest part is often just getting started.

I am adopted and met my siblings, cousins, aunties and uncles for the first time in 2002.Meeting them was an amazing experience and will be the subject of my third book. Stay tuned for that.

In any event, there was a time when I didn’t talk about being adopted.I was embarrassed.I thought something was wrong with me, but once I worked through those issues and opened my mouth about it, I was absolutely dumbfounded by how many other people’s lives have been touched by adoption. They’re everywhere and many have just as amazing stories as I have.

It got me thinking about what you might be keeping under wraps that might actually help you market your businesses.Now you’re probably wondering how on earth my adoption or something personal about you fits into marketing your business.

You probably already know that people do business with people that they know, like and trust, right?So how do you think they get to like you? It’s by getting to know the more personal parts of you.

I’ve had several conversations with business owners and managers lately who struggle with revealing the more personal parts of themselves.Yet, doing so is key to building strong relationships.

I interviewed Laura Holka, Producer-AZTV last spring and one of the things she said was key to getting free publicity was having a ‘hook’. Hooks are characteristics that make you unique or interesting. We all have things like that, but we often discount their value in branding or marketing our business.

A couple of years ago, I attended a meeting for the National Speakers Association in Arizona and our presenter spoke about growing up the ‘baby’ in a huge, boisterous family.He uses pictures of his family and has branded his marketing consulting practice as “Being Heard above the Noise”.There are tons of marketing consultants in the world, but I will probably never forget his brand.

So start thinking about what’s special or unique about you.

Do you/did you:

1. Grow up in an interesting place?

2. Have an unusual hobby or talent?

3. Have a strange nick name?

4. Have a weird job when you were young?

5. Have any distinguishing physical characteristics?

Items like these can be leveraged to help you stand out from the herd, get heard above the noise and carve out a place for yourself and your business in an increasingly crowded market. So figure out what’s special about you and build your brand and marketing messages around it.